Catalogue of the Bengali and Assamese manuscripts in the Library of the India Office / by James Fuller Blumhardt.

  • Great Britain. India Office. Library.
Date:
1924
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Catalogue of the Bengali and Assamese manuscripts in the Library of the India Office / by James Fuller Blumhardt. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    one of these three brothers of Srivasa.!_ The precise date and place of birth are uncertain, but Nara- yani was probably about ten years of age when Chaitanya became a Sannyasi in Saka 1431 (A.D. 1509).2 When still an infant his mother went to Mangachhi, and there her son was educated. Vrindavana Dasa became a devoted follower of Chaitanya, and the favourite disciple of Nitya- nanda, with whom he travelled about for many years preaching the religion of Krishna. He died at a village called Denur, in the District of Bard- wan, where he had established a temple and shrine. He is said to have lived to the age of 82, his death oceurring in A.D. 1589. The Chaitanya-bhagavata is divided into three sections (khanda), each dealing with a distinct epoch in the life of Chaitanya. 1. Adi-khanda, in 14 chapters (adhyaya). The birth, boyhood, education, and marriage of Chai- ‘tanya with Lakshmi, daughter of Vallabhacharya ; his fame as a religious teacher, and travels in Eastern Bengal; the death of his wife, and his second marriage with Vishnu Priya, daughter of Sanatana; concluding with his journey to Gaya. 2. Madhya-khanda, in 29 chapters. Chai- tanya’s return to Navadvipa, his ardent enthusiasm in the worship of Krishna, and an account of his disciples Nityananda, Advaita, Srinivasa, Sridhara, Haridasa, and others. 3. Sesha-khanda, in 13 chapters. An account of Chaitanya’s becoming a Sannyasi at the age of 24; his renunciation of all worldly ties and rela- tions, and final departure from his native town ; his eighteen years’ residence at Nilaichala (Orissa), and six years’ wanderings in Southern India, Brindaban, and other places. 1 HacAt SIGS! AA AAT as stated by the author in this work. * Harimohana Mukhopadhyaya says (Vanga bhashar lekhaka, pt. i., p. 97) that Narayani was the daughter of Srinivasa, a brother of Srivasa, and gives a legendary account of the birth of Vrindavana Dasa; his mother being a child-widow. Three unpublished concluding chapters (Antya- lila), edited by Ambikacharana Brahmachari, were published at Kalna, 1910. The text has been considerably revised and altered in the printed editions, and the division of chapters is not the same. The Adi-khanda has 15, the Madhya-khanda 26, and the Sesha (or Antya) khanda 8 adhydyas. It is generally supposed that Vrindavana Dasa wrote, or, at any rate, began the composition of this biography in Saka 1457 (A.D. 1535), two years after the death of Chaitanya. It does not contain such a complete and authoritative account of the life and teachings of Chaitanya, and of his disciples, as is to be found in the Chaitanya-chari- tamrita of Krishna Dasa Kaviraja (see no. 8), of which work the present was the archetype. Vrin- davana Dasa originaHy called his work Chaitanya- mangala, and it was known by that name when Krishna Dasa wrote his biography of the reformer in A.D. 1615. Some say that the author changed its name, at the suggestion of his mother, because Lochana Dasa had also written a life of Chaitanya under the same title, but there seems to be no Atulakrishna is of opinion that the change of name was made by the Pandits of Brindaban, who also took out the Gitas from Vrindavana’s original work, and foundation for this statement. included them in the Pada-kalpataru, a large col- lection of Vaishnava songs. Vrindavana Dasa is the author of Nityananda- vamsavali, written, according to Mr. Sen, in A.D.1573; also Bhakti-chintamani, and several other Bengali poems. See the lists of manuscripts in the Sahitya-parishat-patrika, vols. iv. e¢ seq. 5. S. 2472.—Foll. 89; 52x11?in.; Il. 13; c. 18th century. [R. Jounson. | Chaitanya-bhagavata. Another copy of the Adi-khanda only, which is here divided into 13 adhydayas,